“It wasn’t Until I Mentioned the MRFF…”

Dear Mr. Weinstein,

First off I would like to say thank you for everything that you and your organization do. I personally was raised as Catholic but do not consider myself to be very religious. Last year I re-enlisted for six more years, however, because I wanted to have the last line of the oath taken out, “so help me god,” I became a direct target of discrimination. My platoon sergeant at the time harassed me about changing my mind; I told him that I was a firm believer of the separation of church and state guaranteed by The Constitution (not too ironically to which I was to swear my re-enlistment oath) and wished to keep the last sentence out of my oath because of this respect for The Constitution. I was told that I was not setting a good example and was not acting like a good NCO. I told him that I have been recognized as being a great squad leader both at home and at war (I have been deployed to Afghanistan and earned the Combat Infantry Badge while deployed) and the fact that I was re-enlisting was a great example to set in itself. However, this fact did not matter to him so I mentioned that I was just exercising my basic Constitutional rights by doing this and was not in any sort of violation by doing so. None of these points mattered and my platoon sergeant pressed on until I dropped the “Military Religious Freedom Foundation’s” name. It wasn’t until I mentioned the MRFF and Mikey Weinstein that he backed off and left me alone. I was so very impressed with the effectiveness of this organization and how quick its name had grown. My entire chain of command knows what the MRFF stands for and what their goals are, I think this is truly the first time in military history that we stand to enjoy our Constitutional rights without the fear of being reprimanded.

Secondly I would like to mention something that has come up through our base’s chaplain’s office. I recently received an email stating that there would be a “Duty Day with God,” coming up. I looked into this flyer to see what it entailed and its contents are simply asking for volunteers to help feed hungry kids for a day. I thought this sounded like a great idea, however, due to the obvious title of the flyer I knew that if I were to attend this function that I would be subject to constant Christian religious proselytizing, which I feel would take away from the true spirit of the event. I know very well from my years of experience in the Army that such demoralizing proselytizing is as prevalent in the Army as are the leaves on any tree, especially at public events like this one. I talked to the Equal Opportunity office on my post but was told that they couldn’t really help me at all since I wanted very badly to remain anonymous and thus free from revenge attacks. I am trying to become an officer through the “Green to Gold” program and know that because of my past problems with the chain of command, incredibly due solely to my deep feelings towards the separation of church and state, that getting their help with my packet and being accepted into this prestigious and very competitive program could be fatally hindered, hence, the reason that I wish to remain anonymous. I hope that biased events such as this will someday cease to exist and will instead be replaced with events that focus on doing good for no other reason other than wanting to just do something good.

Thanks again for everything you MRFF guys do!
(U.S. Army soldier’s name, rank, combat unit and military installation withheld)